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The Week in Review

Posted: Sunday, August 30, 2009

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A look back at the top stories of the week in the Athens Banner-Herald and OnlineAthens.com.

► On Monday ...

• Principal: Oconee rivals won't play - North Oconee High School Principal John Osborne told the Banner-Herald that he won’t let the school compete against cross-county rival Oconee County High because the northern school has inferior athletic training facilities.

► On Tuesday ...

• Some SAT gains, but down overall - The College Board released SAT scores from this year, showing that Georgia’s average dipped six points to 1460, while half of Northeast Georgia schools improved over 2008, including Clarke Central High, East Jackson High and Oglethorpe County High.

• Oconee may take Fulton inmates - Oconee County commissioners agreed to accept 80 Fulton County inmates, a one-year deal that could bring the county $900,000 to offset the cost of running the 140-bed jail that opened in 2007.

• Giant loss in Senate as Ted Kennedy dies - U.S. Sen. Teddy Kennedy died after fighting brain cancer for a year. As Americans remembered the famously liberal lawmaker, local political scientists recalled how his 1980 fight for the Democratic nomination weakened incumbent Jimmy Carter’s chances for re-election and marked the end of Kennedy’s own ambitions for the Presidency. He returned to the Senate, where he spent another 29 years.

• Burn victim clings to life; alleged assailant still held - Lisa Davenport, the 42-year-old Athens woman who was doused with kerosene and set on fire on Aug. 18, remained on life support at a hospital in Augusta, while the man accused of attacking her, Phillip Scruggs, remained in the Clarke County Jail without bond. Davenport was burned over 60 percent of her body when, according to police, attacked her Aug. 18 in her home at Bethel Midtown Village.

► On Thursday ...

• Parents rally for principal - North Oconee High students and parents began to mount a campaign to keep John Osborne, whom Oconee County Superintendent John Jackson placed on leave, then recommended for firing.

► On Friday ...

• Pets of couple killed by dogs up for adoption - The dogs that belonged to Lothar and Sherry Allen Schweder, the Oglethorpe County couple mauled to death by dogs on Aug. 14. These dogs were the Schweders’ docile pets; the wild pack that killed the couple was euthanized.